Formerly primarily a book review blog, now a more general one. Posts on whatever calls my interest. There will, however still be some book reviews.

Friday, September 3, 2010

What Would You Recommend? - Fiction Set In India

This is a question I get asked all the time working in the bookstore: "What would you recommend for somebody who loved "_________"? (fill in the blank)" Usually I can come up with something, but that something can be a bit of a wild guess if it's not a book or genre I normally read. This is where you helpful people come in. If you have a suggestion, I'd love to hear it.

This week I'm asking about an area where I'm sadly out of date. When it comes to stories set in India, the ones I've read are never in stores anymore: Zemindar by Valerie Fitzgerald, and M. M. Kaye's two famous books: The Shadow of the Moon and The Far Pavilions.

A couple of people have recommended The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan and sequels to me, and I just bought it the other day, though I haven't had a chance to read it yet, and of course, there's Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, but aside from that and The Forbidden Daughter, I have no idea of any other books in terms of fiction.

For non-fiction (and even for those who are looking for fiction) I tend to recommend Margaret Macmillan's Women of the Raj, and the books of William Dalrymple.

What else is there for me to either read or recommend, or preferably both?

About Me

I love books, especially science fiction/fantasy and history books.
Primarily, I read fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction and
non-fiction history books.
As of Spring 2009, I now have my B.A. with my major Classical Studies and my minor in Medieval Studies.
I am a professional back-of-the-book indexer specializing in Classical and Medieval Studies and also in general history. I am quite happy as well to work on most general interest subjects as well. My website is at quillandinkindexing.comWhen I write about the Kobo E-reader, it is information gleaned from my personal experience. I am not affiliated with Kobo in any way.